New Releases & Staff Picks 4/9/21
Staff Picks
Kimber – The Orb
Lindsay – Nick Waterhouse
Dario – Spirit Of The Beehive
Zach – Spirit Of The Beehive
Tones On Tail – Pop [Reissue/1984] LP (Beggars Banquet)
Originally released in 1984, Pop is the only studio album from Tones On Tail, which was a side project of Bauhaus members Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins (pre-Love And Rockets) along with Glenn Campling.
Goldfrapp – Seventh Tree LP reissue (Mute)
Limited yellow colored vinyl LP pressing. Seventh Tree is the fourth studio album by English electronic music duo Goldfrapp. It was released on 22 February 2008 by Mute Records. It was named after a dream Alison Goldfrapp had about a “very large tree”. Taking inspiration from paganism and surreal English children’s books, Goldfrapp described the album as a “sensual counterpoint to the glitterball glamour of Supernature“, their previous studio album from 2005.
Benny Sings – Music CD/LP (Stones Throw)
In an industry always pinning its hopes on the next big trend, Benny Sings is in it for the long haul. The Dutch artist has honed a signature sound while creating a colorful catalog of essential pop gems that have led to loyal global following. Benny’s songs are sophisticated and easy to fall in love with, ear-worming melodies and sticky choruses the result of years of craft that have made him the ultimate songwriter’s songwriter. Rex Orange County, with whom Benny wrote the platinum hit “Loving Is Easy” says, “In my opinion he’s one of the most underrated producers and artists going.”
Romy – Lifetime Remixes LP (Young Turks)
A new set of remixes for Romy’s debut solo single, “Lifetime.” Hand-selected by Romy, the EP features a range of incredible producers – Jayda G, Planningtorock, HAAi and Anz. With vinyl-only special inclusion of the vocal ‘a capella’.
Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi – They’re Calling Me Home CD (Nonesuch)
Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops) and Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, who both live in Ireland when they aren’t on tour, have been there since March 2020 due to the pandemic. The two expats found themselves drawn to the music of their native and adoptive countries of America, Italy, and Ireland during lockdown. Exploring the emotions brought up by the moment, Giddens and Turrisi decamped to Hellfire, a small studio on a working farm outside of Dublin, to record these songs over six days. The result is They’re Calling Me Home, a twelve-track album that speaks of the longing for the comfort of home as well as the metaphorical “call home” of death, which has been a tragic reality for so many during the COVID-19 crisis. The minstrel banjo, accordion and frame drums that have become characteristic of the pair’s sound are well represented on the album, but it’s the viola and cello banjo combination that captures unexpected emotion and intensity. [Vinyl edition due June 11.]
Nick Waterhouse – Promenade Blue CD/LP+MP3 (Innovative Leisure)
In Nick’s musical and lyrical world, blue is a refraction of his life and memories – shadowing a deep, spiritual San Francisco that fostered his musical vocabulary but has now been stamped out irrevocably; evoking the endless tours, marathon recording sessions, and highs and lows of success he’s experienced in his decade-long career; conjuring romances that were doomed, loves that lingered, and hope for future days of parity and partnership; summoning spirits of people who have gone but permeate his mind forever. That’s the world of Promenade Blue – one that is vivid and magnetic, buoyed by both light and density due to Nick’s newfound collaboration with producer Paul Butler (Michael Kiwanuka, Devendra Banhart).
Spirit of the Beehive’s fourth album, Entertainment, Death signals new chapters for the band on multiple fronts, being the first to feature their new three-piece lineup, as well as the first to be entirely self-recorded and produced. Guitarist/vocalist Zack Schwartz and bassist/vocalist Rivka Ravede are now joined by new member Corey Wichlin, a multi-instrumentalist who relocated from Chicago to the band’s home territory of Philadelphia. Though Entertainment, Death doesn’t cohere in a single, unifying theme, the band samples old obscure commercials throughout, many of which guided the process of writing a song instead of serving as an appendage. Schwartz describes his songwriting process as a stream-of-consciousness, while Ravede asserts that she doesn’t typically write vocal parts with any specific intention in mind [A limited-edition color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band – Dance Songs For Hard Times CD/LP (Family Owned)
The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band are the greatest front-porch blues band in the world. They are led by Reverend Peyton, who most consider to be the premier finger picker playing today. He has earned a reputation as both a singularly compelling performer and a persuasive evangelist for the rootsy, country blues styles that captured his imagination early in life and inspired him and his band to make pilgrimages to Clarksdale, Mississippi to study under such blues masters as T-Model Ford, Robert Belfour and David “Honeyboy” Edwards. Playing as many as 300 shows each year, the band has one of the most dedicated followings out there. Their fans and more are sure to eat up the band’s latest offering, Dance Songs For Hard Times, a country blues record that was made the right way – two feet on the ground and both hands getting dirty. [A limited-edition color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Silver Synthetic – Silver Synthetic CD/LP (Third Man)
In the midst of the thick New Orleans summer of 2017, Chris Lyons of garage punks Bottomfeeders found himself sitting on a small batch of songs that didn’t quite fit the fuzzed-out pileups of that band. The new songs were more chiming, driving but relaxed, full of little corners begging to be filled with classic pop harmonies and wayward country licks. He called in his trusted confidants: Bottomfeeders drummer and longtime musical partner Lucas Bogner – the two started playing music together at the tender age of 15 – plus bassist Pete Campanelli, and Kunal Prakash (Jeff The Brotherhood) dug the songs and signed on, and the quartet started playing in earnest, hunkering down in the practice space. By the time the band played its first gig in late 2018 at the opening of Nola’s ManRay Records, the songs had multiplied and the members of the newly christened Silver Synthetic had become genuine rock & roll craftsmen. In a world that doesn’t seem capable of swaying, Silver Synthetic’s self-titled debut shakes and boogies.
Meg Baird and Mary Lattimore – Ghost Forests (Three Lobed)
Folks well versed in the work of Meg Baird and/or Mary Lattimore were excited when word first came out regarding their first collaborative album in late 2018. Their excitement was well-founded and rewarded in the form of Ghost Forests, an album that strengthened the ties of many fans to both artists, put the album on many best of lists for 2018 and quickly went out of print. This is the first reissue of this album since that initial pressing.
The Orb – Abolition Of The Royal Familia: Guillotine Mixes CD/2xLP (Cooking Vinyl)
The Orb release a companion piece to their recent studio album Abolition Of The Royal Familia with the gem-packed Guillotine Mixes collection. The new compilation’s concept echoes back to 1991’s Aubrey Mixes: The Ultraworld Excursions, which is a collection of versions predominantly by people who featured on the original Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld album. Guillotine Mixes features reinterpretations of tracks from a host of familiar faces, most of whom also have credits on Abolition, including Youth, Moody Boys, David Harrow, Andy Falconer, Paul Metamono and Gaudi – collectively providing an expansive journey into dance music; from acid house and Balearic beat to techno and beyond, emphasizing The Orb’s club DNA. [A limited edition white color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Owen Pallett – Island CD/2xLP+MP3 (Domino)
Recently released on vinyl – now available on CD. Almost entirely acoustic, Island begins with 13 darkened chords, and was recorded live at Abbey Road Studios with the London Contemporary Orchestra. The introduction is the sound of waking up alone, and on the shore of a strange land. What follows is a shimmering and luscious orchestral album that draws across the full breadth of Pallett’s discography, from Heartland to the glittering, fingerpicked guitar that marked Pallett’s first records with their trio, Les Mouches.
Between The Buried And Me – Coma Ecliptic [Reissue/2015] 2xLP (Metal Blade)
Vinyl reissues of the prog metal band’s sixth and seventh albums.
The raw inspiration for Vague Tidings, Elephant Micah’s new album, comes from a DIY tour of the 49th state. It was a trip that went off the beaten path – sometimes a bit too far for comfort. Now, over a decade later, listeners find songwriter-producer Joseph O’Connell stationed at a creaky spinet piano, singing about the Alaskan sky. Throughout, his lyrics take a new angle on a pet theme: human encounters with the natural world. Vague Tidings places these encounters in the American west and, at times, in its sci-fi corollary, outer space. Its imagery draws from the allure of Alaska, the idea of Western prosperity, and the human relationship to wilderness more broadly. Often, O’Connell sings about the goal of capturing and commodifying nature. In poetic sketches of resource extraction industries and dark sky tourism, frontier lust runs amok. Pipelines catch fire and stars disappear, all to the tune of a stark, uncanny Americana.
Female Species – Tale Of My Lost Love LP (Numero)
This is the story of two sisters who nurtured a dream for half a century and never let it die. Vicki and Ronni Gossett launched their musical career as teenagers in Whittier, California in 1966. They called themselves the Female Species. Members came and went; their base of operations moved to Las Vegas, back to L.A., and over to Nashville. Along the way their sound transformed from garage rock to lounge to country-pop, the only constant being an innate mastery of hooks and harmony. These ladies had it. Tale Of My Lost Love is the whole story from beginning to end of two sisters who gave everything to their dream, yet never made a single record… until now. Sometimes great music just isn’t enough to break through – until it is.
Ariana Grande – Positions LP (Republic)
Released in October of last year, the singer’s sixth studio album Positions is now available as a limited edition Coke-bottle clear vinyl pressing as well as a ‘sonic grey’ color cassette. Grande worked with a variety of producers on the album, including Tommy Brown, Anthony M. Jones, London on da Track, Murda Beatz, the Rascals, Scott Storch, Shea Taylor and Charles Anderson, accompanied by longtime co-writers Victoria Monét and Tayla Parx.
Peter Murphy – Should The World Fail To Fall Apart [Reissue/1986] LP (Beggars Banquet)
Peter Murphy – Love Hysteria [Reissue/1988] LP (Beggars Banquet)
Limited-edition color vinyl reissues. Rising up as the Godfather of Goth as the singer of Bauhaus, Murphy began his solo career in 1985, only enhancing his reputation as one of rock’s most commanding vocalists.